No racing to report, but the World of cycling never sleeps. In a full EUROTRASH Thursday we have a look at the Sagan/Cavendish Tour stage 4 battle and hopefully the end of the - Top Story. In other cycling news: New sponsor for FDJ, new jersey for ag2r-La Mondiale, Sky 2018 roster, Vuelta a San Juan, Vuelta a Murcia and the Tour de Yorkshire routes for 2018, new cars for Bahrain-Merida and some Alberto Contador best bits video.

TOP STORY: Tour de France stage 4 Debacle all Forgotten?
It has been announced that the UCI and the Bora-Hansgrohe team have agreed to end their dispute over the disqualification of Peter Sagan after the crash of Mark Cavendish in the final sprint of stage 4 of the 2017 Tour de France in Vittel. All a bit late now as the UCI commissaires threw Sagan off the race.

On the other hand, as Mark Cavendish's Dimension Data team point out, they were not included in the discussions, but then Cavendish would have had to give his side of the story and that might not have helped the team's position.

When I was a lad, it was 'all's fair in sprinting and war', or is it love? And if a fast-finisher was disqualified, or more usually put back to last place, for a 'dodgy' move, then that was life. It would probably make up for all the times he got away with it. Let's face it, Cav has pulled the odd move in his time and had he managed to come up the inside of Sagan on that finish in Vittel it would have been sailing pretty close to the wind.

Is this the end of the story? We hope so.

Slow motion evidence:

UCI and Peter Sagan Relieved to End Legal Dispute
In advance of the hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne scheduled for December 5, 2017 the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), Peter Sagan and BORA – hansgrohe have agreed to end the legal dispute and controversy about Peter Sagan’s disqualification from this year’s Tour de France.

Peter Sagan was disqualified following a crash in the sprint at the end of the 4th stage in Vittel.
Immediately following the disqualification Peter Sagan and BORA – hansgrohe had appealed the decision of the race jury with the CAS and, in order to enable Peter Sagan to finish the Tour, requested a temporary suspension of the disqualification. As is well known, this request was denied by CAS; subsequently, however, all parties involved had the opportunity to provide evidence and call witnesses. On 5 December 2017, CAS was scheduled to hear the matter in Lausanne.

Having considered the materials submitted in the CAS proceedings, including video footage that was not available at the time when the race jury had disqualified Peter Sagan, the parties agreed that the crash was an unfortunate and unintentional race incident and that the UCI Commissaires made their decision based on their best judgment in the circumstances. On this basis, the parties agreed not to continue with the legal proceedings and to focus on the positive steps that can be taken in the future instead.

The new president of the UCI, David Lappartient, commented on the UCI’s position as follows: “These proceedings have shown how important and arduous the work of the UCI Commissaires is. As of next season the UCI intends to engage a ‘Support Commissaire’ to assist the Commissaires Panel with special video expertise on the main events of the UCI World Tour.”

The UCI world champion Peter Sagan is pleased with this development: “The past is already forgotten. It’s all about improving our sport in the future. I welcome the fact that what happened to me in Vittel has showed that the UCI Commissaires’ work is a difficult one and that the UCI has recognized the need to facilitate their work in a more effective way. I am happy that my case will lead to positive developments, because it is important for our sport to make fair and comprehensible decisions, even if emotions are sometimes heated up.”

Ralph Denk, team manager of BORA – hansgrohe adds: “It has always been our goal to make clear that Peter had not caused Mark Cavendish’s fall. This was Peter’s position from day one. No one wants riders to fall or get hurt but the incident in Vittel was a race accident as can happen in the course of a sprint. My job as a team manager is to protect my riders and sponsors. I think that this is what we, as a team, have done. I am reinforced in my view that neither Peter nor BORA – hansgrohe have made any mistakes.”

Sagan and Cavendish - Friends again?

Dimension Data Responds to UCI Decision to End Sagan Legal Dispute Following Disqualification from this Year's Tour de France
Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka has responded to today’s decision by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), Peter Sagan and BORA – Hansgrohe to end the legal dispute following Sagan’s disqualification from this year’s Tour de France.

The incident saw Team Dimension Data’s Mark Cavendish seriously injured just before the finish line of stage 4.

Douglas Ryder, Team Dimension Data’s team principal said the team will write to the UCI to request a more detailed explanation regarding the specific details of their statement. “As riders and teams, we want all parties to work together to make racing safe and enjoyable. We understood this dispute was over the process that prevented Bora-Hansgrohe from stating their case to the race jury. However, following today’s announcement it seems the investigation also included reviewing the actual race incident. Given that we are the team with the rider who ultimately suffered the most as a result of this incident, we were surprised to not be included to offer our insights to the investigation.”

Team Dimension Data would like to once again state that Mark Cavendish played no part in the cause of the season-ending crash.

Team Dimension Data said it will not be issuing any further comment.

A less than happy Mark Cavendish at the end of Tour'17 stage 4:

New Co-Sponsor for FDJ
From March 2018 the French WorldTour team, FDJ, will be known as Groupama-FDJ. The French insurance group, Groupama will back the team with equal the financial support given by FDJ, the French national lottery. The added money increases the team's budget by around 30%, somewhere between 16 and 20 million euros. The new Groupama-FDJ kit will be unveiled on January 31st and will be raced in for the first time on March the 4th in Paris-Nice.

The team made this statement: "Groupama and FDJ join forces today with the objective of becoming the top French cycling team in terms of means, and with resources on par with those of international teams, allowing us to set our sights on establishing ourselves among the top 10 teams in the world."

FDJ boss, Marc Madiot:

The New ag2r-La Mondiale Team Kit For 2018
The design of the 2018 shirt for the AG2R LA MONDIALE pro cycle team involved collaboration between the main sponsor, the riders and team management, and all its partners, especially Rosti, the team’s clothing supplier. The shirt heralds the brand’s identity and colors, terra brown and sky blue. Particular attention was paid to the technical qualities and assembly of the fabrics to optimize rider comfort. Logos on the shirt were carefully repositioned to get the right camera angles, for during the race, on the podium or in front of the journalists, to spotlight all the team’s partners. This new design will be used for the entire clothing line (shorts, gloves, etc.), the bikes, sportswear and team vehicles (cars, truck and coach).

Yvon Breton, Head of sponsoring at AG2R LA MONDIALE: “The shirt our riders were wearing dates back to 2009 when it was created to develop brand awareness around AG2R LA MONDIALE, the company created by the merger between AG2R and La Mondiale. We felt that the time had come to revamp it a bit. The design of the new one meets several objectives, and more particularly ensuring our riders can be easily identified in the peloton, providing comfort with hi-tech fabrics, parading the colors and identity of AG2R LA MONDIALE and highlighting all the pro team’s partners. I’m really proud of the result and think we did a great job.”

Romain Bardet in the 2018 kit:

Team Sky 2018 roster complete with signing of Leonardo Basso
Team Sky are excited to announce that Leonardo Basso will join the team next season, completing the rider roster for 2018.

The 23-year-old Italian will turn pro with the team and will shortly join up with his new team-mates at Team Sky’s December training camp in Mallorca.

On joining the team Leonardo Basso said: “It’s a dream come true to be joining Team Sky. My main objective is to help the team wherever I can. I want to learn about the job and what it means to be a pro bike rider. I want to learn as much as I can from my team-mates and increase my level day by day. From watching the team you can see they have a clear focus, they pay attention to equipment and the details that go into cycling. It’s impressive to see the innovation and to now be a part of that.”

Team Sky Sport Director Dario Cioni said: “We’re happy to see Leonardo turn pro with us next year. He’s got potential and we want to see where we can get to working together. He’s not a true sprinter but he can survive the punchy climbs and he has the speed to sprint from smaller groups. We’ve seen him pick up some results there in the last few years. He’s another good addition to the group of young guys who are developing within the team.”

Basso’s signing completes Team Sky’s squad at 30 riders going into next season. Eight riders will be making their debut in Team Sky colors in 2018. Jonathan Castroviejo, David de la Cruz and Dylan van Baarle, all riders with winning experience at World Tour level, will be joining the lineup alongside some of cycling’s brightest emerging talents: Egan Bernal, Kristoffer Halvorsen, Chris Lawless and Pavel Sivakov.

Looking at the roster of young talent being built at Team Sky, Team Principal Sir Dave Brailsford has said: “We are establishing a group of exceptional young riders at Team Sky. I have no doubt they are going to make a big impact and be an important part of our future. They have chosen to come to Team Sky because they know that our team is a place where they can best fulfill their potential, achieve their goals and be part of a winning culture. I believe the group of home grown and international young talent we are building represents the brightest future we have ever had at Team Sky.”

2018 Vuelta a San Juan Route
The route for the 2018, seven stage, Vuelta Ciclista a la Provincia de San Juan has been announced. The Argentinian race starts on the 21st and finishes on the 28th of January in the city of San Juan. Top riders Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) and sprinter Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) have already put their names on the start sheet along with seven other WorldTour teams.

Stages 1, 2 and 4 should suit Gaviria and the other sprinters, where as the stage 3 individual time trial could sort out the GC. Stage 5 has the summit finish the Alto Colorado. The final stages agin could end in sprints depending on the overall situation.

2018 Vuelta a Murcia to start in Beniel
The Vuelta a Murcia Grand Prize Banco Sabadell already has its points of departure and arrival. The race will depart from the municipality of Beniel and will end in the streets of Murcia on February 10, 2018.

There will be 18 teams on the start line, one of them will be the Movistar Team, which will bring local rider Alejandro Valverde. The Las Lumbreras rider will return to the race in 2018 after having won the last edition before his injury during the Tour de France. The director of race has stressed that from Beniel the route will leave for the interior of the Region to repeat the finale of last year.

Carmelo Vera, regional director of Banco Sabadell Murcia Centro, has ensured that Banco Sabadell, the main sponsor of the event, feels "very identified" with the values ​​transmitted by the Vuelta a Murcia, such as "teamwork, ambition and commitment."

Race organizer, Francisco Guzmán, pointed out that work is being done to offer a female Tour of Murcia the day after the men's event.

2017 Vuelta a Murcia:

Full Route for 2018 Tour de Yorkshire Announced
The full route for the 2018 Tour de Yorkshire has been unveiled at the Piece Hall in Halifax.The fourth edition of the race has been expanded from three to four stages and will take place between 3-6 May 2018. It encompasses all four corners of the county and takes in 169 villages, towns and cities along the way.

Stage 1: 182km – Beverly - Doncaster – Thursday 3 May
The race gets going in Beverley’s historic market place before proceeding to the seaside resort of Hornsea. The peloton will then tackle a 16km loop before heading back through Beverley and into the Yorkshire Wolds. The first classified climb at Baggaby Hill will get the legs pumping before a brisk descent into Pocklington for the opening intermediate sprint. After passing through Holme-on-Spalding Moor the pace will gradually ramp up again for a second sprint in Howden and then it’s full steam into Doncaster on the newly opened Great Yorkshire Way. The riders will sweep past the world-famous Racecourse before a flat-out finish along South Parade.

Stage 2: 149km – Barnsley - Ilkley – Friday 4 May
The peloton will start outside Barnsley’s impressive Town Hall and head towards Penistone. The route ventures into Worsbrough and the first mountains classification points are up for grabs at Blacker Hill. With those in the bag the race will pass though Elsecar before an intermediate sprint is contested in Swinton. Conisbrough Castle provides a stunning backdrop before the riders continue north for a second intermediate sprint in Scholes, and Harewood House also makes an appearance prior to the classified Côte de Old Pool Bank climb. The route will then pass through Otley and Ilkley before reaching the race’s first-ever summit finish on the Cow and Calf. In an added twist, King of the Mountains points will also be on offer right before the stage winner is crowned on top of this iconic Yorkshire climb.

Stage 3: 184km – Richmond - Scarborough – Saturday 5 May
The riders will roll out of Richmond’s cobbled market place and head to Catterick Garrison before the start flag is lowered. They’ll then traverse Wensleydale and continue in an easterly direction at Leyburn, on to Morton on Swale where the first intermediate sprint will be fought out. Northallerton and Thirsk will then provide warm welcomes, and no sooner have the riders crossed into the North York Moors than they’ll be faced with the fearsome Sutton Bank climb. The first contenders over the top there will be rewarded with points in the mountains classification. The action then passes through Helmsley and on to Pickering for a second intermediate sprint. The climbers will be looking to come to the fore again on the Côte de Silpho before the race breezes into Scarborough for the first time. Hugging the east coast, the peloton will continue on to Filey and sample its picturesque seafront before heading inland and back towards Scarborough. The frontrunners will sweep along South Bay, around the castle walls, and onto the now-legendary finish along North Bay.

Stage 4: 189.5km – Halifax - Leeds – Sunday 6 May
The Piece Hall in Halifax provides a spectacular location for the start of this decisive stage and the first of six categorized climbs comes on the Côte de Hebden Bridge. The race will head up the cobbled Main Street in Haworth before dropping into Goose Eye for the next punishing ascent. Crossing from Brontë Country into Craven, the route heads through Skipton and the next climb is looming on Barden Moor. The action will then head into the Dales before the riders contest the first intermediate sprint in view of Kilnsey Crag. The Côte de Park Rash will no-doubt cement its place in Tour de Yorkshire folklore as the peloton grind their way up it, and the route continues on to Masham and then into Nidderdale before making a return to the formidable Côte de Greenhow Hill for the first time since 2016. The undulating terrain never relents and shortly after passing through Otley the next categorized climb is on the cards at Otley Chevin. If that wasn’t enough, the Côte de Black Hill Road must also be crested before the race sweeps into Leeds and reaches a rip-roaring conclusion on The Headrow – on exactly the same spot as where the Tour de France started in 2014.

Sir Gary Verity, director 'Welcome to Yorkshire': "It was a proud moment unveiling the full route today. We’ve worked hard to design a dramatic and varied parcours which takes in some of our county’s most spectacular terrain. I’m sure the world’s best riders will relish the challenge it poses and we’ll be treated to a tremendous fourth edition. Last year’s race attracted 2.2 million spectators and now that is has been extended from three to four days, the 2018 Tour de Yorkshire promises to be the biggest and best one yet."

Christian Prudhomme, A.S.O. director of cycling: "Gary and his team have done a fantastic job and I am excited by what next year’s route has in store. I enjoy coming to Yorkshire and the county always puts on a tremendous show. Seeing the race finish on The Headrow in Leeds will be particularly special and bring back a lot of happy memories from when the Tour de France started there in 2014. I still regard that as one of our grandest Grand Départs and I’m sure we’ll be in for another memorable day. The way Yorkshire supports cycling is incredible I look forward to seeing more bikes, banners and bunting in 2018."

Asda Tour de Yorkshire – Women’s Race
Following its phenomenal success over the last three years, the Asda Women’s Tour de Yorkshire will double in size from one day to two in 2018 and take place on 3-4 May. It will once again offer one of the largest prize pots in the sport and a stellar cast of riders will be on hand to compete on Yorkshire roads.

The stages will start each morning and follow the last 132km and 121.5km respectively of the men’s stages which commence later each day.

Maserati Tour de Yorkshire Ride
It was also revealed that the Maserati Tour de Yorkshire Ride sportive will be back for a fourth successive year in 2018. Leeds was unveiled as the start and finish location for the event which will be held on Sunday 6 May. 6,000 amateur cyclists will have the chance to ride some of the county’s most iconic roads just hours before the Tour de Yorkshire reaches its conclusion.

Full route details for the sportive will be announced when general entries open on Tuesday 9 January. Those keen to guarantee a place before then can sign up now and opt to fundraise for one of eight charities. Find out more at http://letour.yorkshire.com/sportive.

Gruppo Zatti Becomes BAHRAIN MERIDA Team Exclusive Supplier of Cars
We are very pleased today to announce partnership deal with Gruppo Zatti to become BAHRAIN MERIDA Pro Cycling Team exclusive supplier of cars for the upcoming 2018 season.

Gruppo Zatti is a leader car dealership in the Italian automotive market, permanently in the ranking of the best ten dealers according to the annual turnover. A dynamic group that bases its long experience on the sporting values, as determination and team spirit and for that reason it firmly believes in sport as sponsoring. They supported marathons, football clubs, rugby teams and many other sports activities so far. Now they chooses BAHRAIN MERIDA Team and its champions to enter in the world of cycling with the South Korean brand Kia, one of the world’s fastest-growing automotive brands.

Gruppo Zatti will supply a total of 17 cars, selecting top of the line models as the all-new Kia Optima Station Wagon GT Line, a sporty and spacious car that features stylish comfort. The fleet is integrated by two Kia Sorento R REBEL, a sophisticated SUV with a high level of equipment, performance and surprising versatility to face the cobblestones and the most hard courses of the Classics races or mountain stages.

Our team will be using the cars both inside and out of the races, to carry bicycles, spare parts and to support riders in every situation, as in the peloton with the team cars used by the team’s sports directors and mechanics.

This partnership is an opportunity for promoting sustainable mobility: inspired by the sustainability of cycling, Kia announced that the challenge for the future will be to reduce emissions, with the design of new models of hybrid cars like Kia Niro or electric cars like Kia Soul.

“BAHRAIN MERIDA Team is proud to partner with Gruppo Zatti and to drive a model like Kia Optima SW as our official team car on the roads around the world” comments Alex Carera, Business and Marketing Manager of BAHRAIN MERIDA Pro Cycling Team.

Kia Optima Station Wagon GT Line will be the official team car for the 2018 season:

Alberto Contador Motivation
As it was Bert's birthday yesterday (Wednesday 6th December), here are some 'Best Bits' from Alberto to get you motivated for a ride on this cold morning (unless you live in Australia).

*****The PEZ NEWSWIRE!
Don’t forget to check the “NEWSWIRE” section, you can find it on the homepage, just above the EuroTrash section. The bits of news that missed the EuroTrash deadline are in there, plus any news as-it-happens will be added there too.